


before tomorrow catches up

by brighterthanstars



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Soft Hockey Boys, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:15:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21847348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brighterthanstars/pseuds/brighterthanstars
Summary: Nico's dreams have already started, and you don’t get those unless Fate has something to tell you.It’s always in the details, nothing’s ever too explicit. It's usually small facts like the fact that your soulmate likes yellow is enough to dream about yellow-tinted skies and yellow flowers.
Relationships: Nico Hischier/Nolan Patrick
Comments: 2
Kudos: 73





	before tomorrow catches up

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I have no excuse for this other than the fact that I started writing this two and a half years ago, ha ha.
> 
> Title straight out of an All Time Low song.

  
Nico’s young when his brother sits him down and talks to him about soulmates and dreams. 

His tattoo hasn’t showed up, but he has no doubt it’ll show up when he’s older; everyone in his family has gotten one, though not all of them have found their soulmate.

But he will, because his dreams have already started, and you don’t get those unless Fate has something to tell you. 

It’s always in the details, nothing’s ever too explicit. Just… things like the fact that your soulmate likes yellow is enough to dream about yellow-tinted skies and yellow flowers. 

Black benches surrounded by wheat.

Wheat and flowers under soft clouds, his soulmate turns around at the same time his alarm yanks him back to the real world.

  
-

Nolan knows who Nico Hischier is but no, he’s not too into thinking about him and what his uprising in the draft conversations means.

It’s not like him to get upset or have harsh feelings about other people’s hockey - if anything, good hockey inspires him, he wants to be the best but that doesn’t mean he has to hate on other players just because they’re also good.

Hockey has always stirred things in him that nothing else had, he can always feel his heart going a little faster when someone skates beautifully, his fingertips always seem to move on their own accord when there’s an amazing slapshot.

So yeah, he likes hockey and he likes Nico’s hockey; he’s pretty sure it makes him feel things, though he doesn’t think it’s anything special.

But the heart is a muscle too, and Nolan’s muscles have not been on his side lately.

-

The prospects game is a whole experience, Nico was definitely not expecting it to be such a big thing.

He has no qualms about his hockey, he was the one that chose to make the jump into the North American hockey and he wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t have confidence in himself and the way he plays the game.

Everyone seems to only want to ask him about the draft and about Nolan Patrick, though. He’s heard that name a thousand times already but he has yet to meet him, they play on opposite coasts and Nico thinks they play different hockey too.

The whole weekend coming up to the game is a weird combination of being surrounded by people he knows of but doesn’t know and the realization that everyone expects him to be weary of the other guys just because it’s what they think he will do.

He meets Nolan when they meet up on the ice for pictures, just two captains posing together. Nolan seems nice and funny, even if it takes Nico a little while to get used to to the mumbling and dry humour.

It feels nice right away, settling.

-

Nico doesn’t know what makes him do it but he asks Nolan to hang out, it’s just the two of them for a little while.

It’s… Nolan’s pretty. He’s pretty and nice and his smile makes Nico feel just like scoring his first goal for his national team felt, like something in his stomach burned and bubbled at the same time. As it sizzled within him, all the way to the smile he can’t seem to wipe off his own face.

Neither of them are sure where they’re going, Quebéc City is not a place either of them is really familiar with but even just wandering around, trying to settle on a place for a coffee, is nice. It feels like he’s known Nolan for a long time, no silence is awkward and there’s not a missing step as they walk side to side. 

Nico wonders if Nolan feels it too.

-

Nolan wonders not for the first time if maybe he's just like samson and all his strength left when he cut his hair.  
  
Though that would be lying to himself because his bad luck, all his injuries, all of his letdowns happened before he even thought about letting his mom convince him of chopping his hair off.  
  
Still, it feels like he lost a part of himself, he can't tell if that's good or bad yet but it's done, and it's the one thing he could sort of control.

It’s definitely a weird feeling; To have his muscles not working like he wants to but still have them reacting to the tattoo he can feel growing on his inner arm, burning softly like his cheeks do whenever he catches Nico looking at him.

-

No matter what Tanner says or what everyone thinks, Nolan’s not as dense as he might seem. He’s not saying he’s the brightest of the bunch but it’s not like he can’t figure out what’s going on in his own life. Being out means he has plenty of time to think, being out more than once in a season means too much time to think about too many things. 

By the time the regular season is done, he’s had his tattoo for over a year. And it hasn’t stopped growing.

First it was mountains, then a pointy flower and lastly a little ship; The alps, their flower and the Nova Scotia ships.

That combination can only mean one thing and one person, Nolan’s not going to lie to himself and pretend he doesn’t know Fate had decided that Nico Hischier was going to be his soulmate. 

-

Nico isn’t surprised when they don’t make it past the first round, though it still hurts. He tries to pretend he doesn’t keep up with the WHL, but everyone knows that’s a blatant lie: he does keep up with it because he keeps up with the Wheat Kings, even if Nolan hasn’t been playing.

He’s honestly getting kind of sick of all the draft talk and how Nolan being hurt help his chances of going first overall; He doesn’t want to go first because his opponent is out, that’s not fair to either of them. 

Nolan was projected first until Nico came along, he doesn’t want to imagine how sick and hurt Nolan is by all the speculation surrounding him and his future.

-

  
Everyone invited to the combine gets to Buffalo a few days early and this calls for getting drunk, or so Nico's told, as he's pushed into someone’s room.  
  
The party's already started by the time he gets there, and Nico doesn't even want to know how they managed to get enough alcohol to get a bunch of underaged hockey players drunk, so he just grabs the beer he's handed and steps inside.  
  
It's nice to let himself relax, surrounded by people that understand and probably share the same nerves. It's disorienting, there's a voice in the back of Nico's mind reminding him that all of them are after the same thing, that they all are future rivals, some future teammates.  
  
But for now they are just boys.  
  
He gets distracted by Tippett’s drunk antics and roped into a conversation about echidnas by Casey. He knows absolutely nothing about them but, uh, they sound kinda cool now.  
  
It gets late pretty fast after that, not without him noticing but not slow enough that it feels like it’s dragging him down. People start to leave at some point, some of them wave, some yell their goodbyes and some just smile and slip away. There's not really a lot of them left standing, but Nico can't leave now.  
  
Not yet, at least.  
  
The thing is: Nolan's sort of dancing completely alone, drink still in his hand, eyes closed and swaying softly to the distant end-of-the-party music.  
  
You see, Nico's no poet but he feels not trying to write about this would be a waste of a perfect image.  
  
"He's something else, isn't he?" Cody asks, dropping next to Nico and throwing an arm around his shoulders.  
  
It takes him a few seconds but, "Yes, he is."  
  
"He's the best boy I've ever met, Nico," Cody says softly, "I know you'll be nice to him."  
  
No pressure then.  
  
-  
  


Nico isn’t sure how to approach Nolan and not seem… like an asshole. 

He doesn’t know what Nolan thinks of him and he wouldn’t be surprised if Nolan can’t stand him even though they don’t actually know each other that much. He can’t imagine Nolan is too happy with all the things that are being said, with all the comparisons everyone’s always making. 

This was “The Nolan Patrick Draft” until he showed up.

Nolan doesn’t strike him as someone that would be upset over something like that but the truth is that Nico has no idea what Nolan actually thinks or wants, no matter how much he already feels like he likes him, how much he feels like he _ knows _ him.

Watching Nolan smile makes him think of the yellow colored skies of his dreams.

-

Nico thinks Chicago is proving to be a better date spot than what they both imagined. Especially now that he gets to say that they’re definitely going out on dates and not just “hanging out”.

The Chicago Riverwalk seems even prettier when Nolan’s walking along it and the bridges’ street lights seem to shine brighter when Nolan’s leaning against the railing next to them and running his fingers over the small different tattoos that have been showing up on Nico’s forearm. 

None of the bright lights from the many many buildings around them can compare to Nolan’s little small.

-

  
It's a floaty feeling. Kissing Nico, like that feeling you get when you're waking up but you're too comfortable to move yet.  
  
His feels settled, his head like it's been finally locked into place. It feels like many things really, like finding the light switch in the dark, like making someone laugh, like a good tea when you're cold, like-  
  
Like what he thought kissing Nico would feel like, when he let himself think that far away.  
  
It's good.  
  


-

The Windy city is still the Windy city, even in the summer.

There’s a breeze at all times, a little too chilly for some at night but not too different to the one he’s used to get on Naters summer nights.

The wind is messing up Nolan’s already messed up hair. 

He’s not used to having Nolan on his summer nights though.

The blush is perpetual, present even when he’s doing nothing but leaning against the bridge’s railing. It looks more pinkish under the strong yellow light.

His eyes look brighter.

Nico can only wait so much before dragging him down to kiss him.  
  


-  
  


It’s hard not to stand up as soon as he hears Nico’s name being called by Shero, so he does, because he’s never been that good at controlling himself.

He’s proud of Nico. 

Nolan doesn't know who's being called, he's not even sure what he just heard, all he knows is that Nico's there in an instant, all up in his space, hugging him.  
  
Or maybe he’s the one that gets to Nico, he's not that sure.

  
He's gonna need footage to check. He's sure there's gonna be a lot.


End file.
